She's Dangerous
by VigilanteVixen
Summary: Zarabelle has no special powers. Unlike her brother, she's not Force-sensitive. But what she lacks in power she makes up for in charm. It's going to get her in a lot of trouble. OC/Poe Dameron/Kylo Ren love triangle
1. Chapter 1

Half a dozen boys were contained in a room. It wasn't an unusual sight, to see young adults sitting in a room together. However these boys as a collective were anything but normal or ordinary.

What set these boys apart from others in the galaxy was what was inside of them. These boys contained a higher number of midi-chlorians cells in their bodies compared to the rest of the galaxy. In layman's terms these boys were "Force-sensitive" and harnessed abilities that gave them all unbelievable power.

One could come to the conclusion in that having such powerful sentient beings in one place could be considered a liability. But to Luke Skywalker, having them anywhere else other than his watchful eye was the true danger. The galaxy needed a new Jedi Order to stop the mistakes of the past from occurring again. The galaxy also needed these Force-sensitive males on the light side of the force to prevent the dark ones who had risen from the ashes of The Empire from getting to them first.

It was a mutually beneficial agreement to these Force-sensitive young men. This was their first time within the temple and it was moments before they would begin their apprenticeships. They were all seated in a large airy room made out of marvellous looking marble, sitting at a large black table crafted of oak. All of the young men were grinning and chattering excitedly about being hand picked to join the new Jedi Temple and what their training would entail. Due to the large space and all of the marble around them, their chattering was bouncing around and echoing loudly. They were all sitting huddled together waiting for their Jedi Master to join them.

All of them, except one. One of the new Jedis sat a few metres away from his peers and instead cast his deep dark coloured eyes onto the rest of the group, watching them carefully.

It made sense this boy was apathetic about being given the privileged opportunity to be trained personally by the Luke Skywalker. The famous Jedi who had saved the galaxy from the clutches of The Empire was this boy's uncle. If the social consequences of Luke turning down Leia's request for her son to train under him were not enough pressure to extend an invitation to Ben, it was Ben's genes which would secure him entry into Luke's Jedi Temple. Ben Solo did not belong anywhere but this new Jedi Order that Skywalker was building.

Ben was grateful for the opportunity to train and grow under his uncle's training. He was certainly keen to learn and had a thirst for knowledge on how to master the Force. He just wasn't going to go star eyed like the other schmucks in the room. He knew it was important to not show any weakness in order to harness power to its full potential.

"Yo, is this the room for the wizards?" A new boy hollered out as he confidently strut into the marble-laced room, his deep-set round shockingly blue eyes glossing over his surroundings lazily.

All eyes in the room immediately flickered onto this newcomer. Although judgments were biased by his cocky entrance - all of the occupants of the room had similar thoughts running through their head.

This kid doesn't look like he has what it takes to train as a Jedi.

They were completely correct. Chaz Penthurst wore a grin on his strong jaw that was far less than the humble image (most) others in the room tried to project. His curtained sandy hair was disheveled and tousled, he had ran his hand through it earlier to style it to stand up messily - a style his sister always teased him about.

Even his clothing showed a lack of care to being admitted to the exclusive organisation that only the wisest and most powerful had been permitted to enter through the ages. He had neglected to put on the clothes provided to the students in their private rooms and instead was sporting the clothes he wore during his school years, a long shirt rolled up carelessly to his elbows and casual black pants.

"We are not wizards. We are a proud select few who possess the ability to use powers most others cannot. We are here to learn how to use the Force." A fellow student disapprovingly spoke up.

"Sounds like wizardry to me. Powers, the Force, hocus pocus alakazam." Chaz responded sarcastically as he pulled out a black wooden oak seat and sat on it backwards in a disrespectful manner, staring down all others in the room.

This newcomer had piqued the interest of Ben Solo, who for once since arriving was genuinely curious about one of his new peers. He didn't know whether this new male was someone to be respected for being so daring and indifferent about his identity, or whether this boy should be mocked for being too foolish.

Ben's ebony eyes bore into the electric blue ones of Chaz Penthurst. Unlike most who would either cower upon such a scrutinous gaze or just glare back, Chaz had a different idea. He sent Ben a smirk and a wink. Unlike Chaz's cold and arrogant greetings towards Luke's other Jedi apprentices he was showing neighbourly actions towards Ben. He saw Ben as equal, not lesser like those around him.

Ben had mutual feelings about the one who had just entered the room. He too was interested in this person, and how this person would potentially challenge him and help him grow as a Jedi.

"It sounds like you don't believe in the Force. Why would you bother coming here? No one is forcing you to be here and learn the ways of the Jedi." The same naysayer from before asked Chaz in an annoyed fashion.

Chaz kept his boyish smirk on his face as he looked around the room. The little tiff between the two had gained the attention of all occupants in the room. But they all remained silent to watch the exchange unfold.

"My mum is, actually. I was pretty meh about coming here to be honest. You see, I started to get into a lot of trouble for causing harm to men who were becoming obsessed with my sister, so my mum-" Chaz began to explain but he was cut off swiftly by Ben Solo, who had spoken up for the first time since Chaz entered the room.

"You mean to say you are only here to learn the ways of the Jedi because your mom is making you?" Ben asked him formidably, finding he was now leaning towards the 'mocked for being foolish' opinion of Chaz.

"Nope, I wasn't saying that at all," Chaz frowned "I can certainly tell you don't have a sister. They go from being awkward and unfortunate looking teens to girls who need their hordes of stalkers chased off in the blink of an eye."

"So are you here to learn how to use the powers of the Force to protect your sister?" Another one of the apprentices asked Chaz who had been watching carefully. It was the first time since entering that Chaz had been spoken to with respect, Chaz obviously now had this male's approval.

"No haven't you heard a word of what I was saying? My mom forced me to be here, jeez," Chaz joked loudly before he grew serious to answer the question properly "Actually, I'm here to learn how to harness the powers inside me to protect the ones I love. My sister is included in that. Although I'd never admit that to her."

Murmurs broke out in the room as the handful of occupants were now giving their validations to Chaz. He was here to train for noble reasons after all, he was just a colourful character.

There were now just two people who still weren't entirely convinced by Chaz Penthurst.

"Well I do have a sister and I think maybe you're too brash and impure to be here. I've certainly never had to bring harm to anyone to protect her." Chaz's ongoing critic scoffed suddenly.

Chaz focused his eyes onto the boy and finally decided to give his attention to this person, finding him annoying. He felt this person was his polar opposite and found everything about his new peer irked him. An annoying shocking blonde bowl cut, neat clothes draped over his body and most importantly the constant proddings and disapproving remarks in the space of minutes.

Chaz knew his cocky and non-fundemental entrance did most likely deserve to be questioned under scrutiny. But he still didn't like this boy.

"What's your name, champ?" Chaz asked him curiously.

"It's Emmett. Emmett Renoldus." Chaz's critic spoke matter-of-factly after being caught slightly off guard by the question.

"Well Emmett Renoldus. If your sister is even half as unsightly as you, she must be pretty ugly. That's why you've never had to chase anyone away from her. They're most likely already running away from her." Chaz sharply snapped towards Emmett.

The room once again grew silent at Chaz's cruel taunt towards Emmett. The approvals that Chaz won over for his confession about wanting to protect his family had been quickly lost. His fellow apprentices all felt the same about Chaz. That he was far too juvenile to be training amongst them and had no place in the new Jedi Order.

All except one. Chaz had just earned the respect of one of them, and he was the only one in that room to have this person's respect.

Ben Solo rose from the chair he had purposely chosen to be away from the others and instead took a seat next to Chaz.

"Ben Solo." Ben introduced himself to Chaz, purposely not offering a hand to shake.

"Chaz Penthurst." Chaz responded as he met the gaze of his new peer.

"I know a little about the Force myself. I've already undergone minor training from Luke Skywalker. He is my uncle after-all." Ben stated in a slightly bragging fashion. He held respect for Chaz but he still felt he was above this confident male.

"Yeah well, I may not be special like you, but I beat to the march of my own drum." Chaz shrugged in response to Ben's name dropping.

* * *

 _Drum, drum, drum._

"Did anybody hear that?" A middle-aged lady asked out of the blue as she shot her head up upon hearing the irritating tapping noise.

"Nope, didn't hear anything." A younger girl in the vicinity immediately spoke up suspiciously.

The middle-aged lady shot her daughter a look but said nothing as she turned back to the man she was speaking to before the mysterious noise broke her train of thought.

The two females were presently at an esteemed event filled with the most elite of their family's social circle. The event was being held in one of the most magnificent venues the planet had to offer. Most of the surfaces were made with solid gold, with all other exteriors comprising of other expensive minerals. Many extravagant displays were dotted around to add to the ambience of the room, one of which included a large waterfall. The gentle gushing sound of water in the background had helped mask the drumming sound the older woman had heard before.

The two women were currently away from the action of the party and standing with drinks at a solid gold table, much to the older female's dismay. Even though they were in the company of a prestigious well-known man, she would have much preferred her daughter to be mingling with suitors her own age or slightly older. Instead the girl in her prime was moping to the side of the party.

"Yes, it is a bit disappointing that Zarabelle doesn't have her eyes on some of the well respected men here. But I am holding hope that she does consider taking my suggestion of attending a finishing school on a reputable planet." The mature lady sighed in an exaggerated manner as she eyed her daughter wistfully.

Zarabelle flickered her electric blue eyes onto her mother's stare and refused to back down as she stared straight back. Growing up under her mother's regime had shaped who Zarabelle was, and she was one to not be intimidated easily. Especially by her meddlesome mother.

Zarabelle's upbringing her caused her brother to become cocky and overconfident. Zarabelle on the other hand was sarcastic and quick witted. Different personalities but they were both from the result of putting up walls after lots of mental scarring from their mother.

Zarabelle had grown up on (and never left) a medium-sized planet named Thabargo. Thebargo was a very plain planet which was only established three hundred years ago. Very simple vegetation was scattered around here and there, enough for the inhabitants to survive on comfortably but nothing special to admire. With no rich history due to the planet's lack of age the architecture was practical but uncultural. There were no ancient ruins or large temples. With no history and no natural phenomena Thebargo rarely saw any tourists.

What Thebargo lacked in culture, it made up for in opportunities. It was the closest planet to a nearby smaller resource rich planet named Feabaux, which was mined for many different minerals. These minerals were then transported to Thebargo for processing and for manufacturing of many different items, in many different industries. Therefore there were many different types of people on the planet. The blue-collar inhabitants who were involved in the manufacturing and the white-collar inhabitants who enjoyed the fruits of the blue-collar population's labour.

Put simply, Thebargo was an import and export planet. Therefore there were always winners and losers in the industry. Zarabelle's mother wanted her to marry into a winning family.

"I know that you're trying to talk about me as if I'm not here, in hopes I feel embarrassed enough by your commentary to talk to some of these chumps. Yeah. Ain't gonna work." Zarabelle snapped towards her mother angrily.

"If you choose to use improper words, I'm not going to even acknowledge you Zarabelle. You are to use the word 'shan't' instead of 'ain't', lest you sound like street garbage." Mink, Zarabelle's mother briskly stated.

Mink Penthurst was a woman who liked to think she was very prim and proper. She hadn't come a good family herself but she made sure to sink her claws into someone who had. Her late husband may not have been a galaxy-known noble, but he was a somebody on Thebago. In her prime she was able to easily attract a powerful partner. Her reasonable looks had passed onto her son Chaz who inherited her thick sandy hair and shocking blue eyes.

Zarabelle on the other hand was a hybrid of her mother and late father. The only thing she shared with her brother and mother were the electric blue eyes. She had her father's golden brunette hair colour and his slightly weak facial structure, such as a rounded jaw and button nose. The only thing both Penthurst siblings inherited from their father and not their mother were a few freckles. These freckles had faded over time and were barely visible on Chaz, but were dotted around Zarabelle's nose prominently.

Zarabelle was pretty but not strikingly beautiful and she knew her mother resented her for it.

"Except you acknowledged me just then, mother. So y'all can get used to my choice of the word 'ain't' 'cause that is becoming part of my vocabulary, yo." Zarabelle cheekily stated, using as many improper words as possible to get a rise out of her mother.

Mink sighed and briskly turned her back on her daughter to not give Zarabelle the satisfaction she desired.

Zarabelle then continued to do what she had done previously. She extended her knuckles to the cool gold table they were leaning against and drummed it three times again before pulling her hand away when she got the attention of the two adults.

"Now tell me someone heard those sounds this time." Mink shrieked loudly.

Zarabelle was going to continue gaslighting her mother and strongly inform her that no, no sounds were heard and she was the only one that could hear the sound. Unfortunately for her, the male present in their company would spoil her fun.

"It appears that your daughter is playing a crass prank on you. She's rapping her knuckles on the bar and claiming she can't hear the noise." the upscale male scoffed as he shot a filthy look in Zarabelle's direction.

"Yeah, well. I may not be sophisticated like you, but I beat to the march of my own drum." Zarabelle shrugged in response to this man's unpleasantries towards her.


	2. Chapter 2

The planet Thebago had two major cities, with many smaller hubs dotted around the planet's surface. Being a planet that purely existed for manufacturing importing and exporting it made sense that there were only two cities. The one city that produced the goods and services, and the one city that existed for those who profited off the goods and services.

One of the major cities was the heart of the planet's industrial sector. Eryup; It spanned for hundreds of kilometres and was made up of thousands of different factories for hundreds of different industries. Amongst the factories and warehouses were houses for the civilians to live in. This major city was rife with pollution and was quite ugly. Smog blanketed the city and it was so thick the population were unable to see the sky. Only one ship could fly in and out of the city, due to this pollution, a special ship made only for the smoky hub in Thebago. As the air had such poor quality all of the goods coming in and out of Thebago had to be re-routed to a third much smaller city which was located a few hundred kilometres away. It was an inefficient process, but still profitable due to the low wages of those who lived in Eryup.

The fleet of special ships would regularly make the two hour flight to fly its cargo, and very rarely people, to the much nicer city of Whitefield located thousands of kilometres away. Whitefield was located far away enough to have a much better air quality. External spaceships could easily land in its fresh air and such the planet's major spaceport was located in this city. Any non import or export business was always flown through Whitefield instead. There was very little tourism due to the lack of history of the planet, but there were lots of business trips to be had in Whitefield.

The city was a lot nicer too. No ugly warehouses were dotted around. The houses on the outskirts of the city away from the central business district were a lot nicer and there were many modern and impressive buildings towering to create a unique skyline. Whitefield wasn't touched by the industrial disadvantage that Eryup was. The wealth gap was evident on Thebago and the two capital cities highlighted this issue.

Eryup didn't have any high class watering holes for locals. Just dark and dingy places for it's hard workers to have a drink or ten after a long day at work. Whitefield certainly had a lot of charming and clean establishments.

Which is where Poe Dameron found himself one evening.

"So yeah, I'm on this planet as a stopover before my holiday group continue on our holiday. There really doesn't seem to be much to do here does there?" His new companion asked as she took a sip out of the drink he had recently purchased for her.

He eyed the bar around him and grinned madly at the woman in front of him. He had clearly received the attention from the best looking woman in the bar. A very attractive female from Pantora stood before him.

He found her exotic blue skin alluring but that wasn't just what made her beautiful. She was showing off shapely long legs, and her torso seemed very toned under her tight clothing. The woman also was charming Poe with heavy lidded mystic eyes. Her beauty had him intrigued when he caught her eye across the outdoor bar, and he definitely wanted to get to know this woman.

"This is my first time on this planet too. I'm a pilot for the New Republic. I'm based in the neighbouring Mirrin System to protect it, but had a few days free to go exploring. Which brought me here." Poe bragged but gave a shrug to try and convey a nonchalant attitude.

His words had the intended effect. The irresistible woman in front of him slyly smiled and placed a finger at the top of his arm and slowly dragged it down.

"My, you must be quite brave. Remind me to contact you if I ever need protecting." The woman purred as she bat her brown heavy lidded eyes as she spoke.

Poe was about to respond in a cocky manner to almost certainly score an invitation to the woman's hotel room for the night but his response was drowned out by a low rumbling noise in the distance. Both he and his companion looked towards where others in the bar were looking and after not too long, a male just a tad younger than Poe appeared on a flashy Speeder Bike.

The bar was silent as the male turned off his bike's engine, as all conversations had been killed by the loud noise.

"Answer is still no, Dimmey. You can turn up on your shit Speeder you use to compensate for your little prick, but I ain't going out with you." A snappy girl barked from a few tables away. A lot of people in the bar turned to shoot her filthy looks for her improper language and crass sentences.

Poe on the other hand smirked at her statement as he looked over to watch the scene unfold.

She was too far for Poe to make out any of her features aside from long golden brunette hair but there was one thing he noticed about her. She and her female companion were dressed differently from other occupants of the establishment. All the other women around them wore elaborate and showy garments to either show their wealth or highlight their features. Most of them were also wearing fancy headpieces, and this included his seductive Pantoran lady for the evening.

This girl on the other hand was wearing just a plain looking strapless black dress that fell just above her knee, with a black cape made of silk draped over her shoulders. Even without speaking to her he could tell she must be quite the character based on her simple dress sense and her questionable language.

She had a friend with her too, but the friend was long forgotten as all eyes in the bar were only on the boy who had turned up on the loud bike, and the girl he was trying to woo.

"Only you could say that Zarabelle and still keep me coming back for more. C'mon. You're not at the Auction Ball. I'm not at the Auction Ball. It's fate." The male named 'Dimmey' smugly stated to the girl he was chasing.

Poe couldn't help but to overhear the exchange between the two younger occupants. He made no effort to try and drown them out. Not only because he knew he wouldn't be able to - but he also didn't want to. Up until he entered this bar he had found this planet boring. Now he had the company of a beautiful lady, and a lover's spat as a show. He found this all very entertaining.

He also was curious about what an 'Auction Ball' was, but unfortunately for him, he would not find out.

"Dimmey. If you're waiting for me to accept your invitation to go on a date I hope you brought some food and entertainment, because it's going to take a _looooong_ time for me to ever agree." Zarabelle huffed to the boy who had been long asking her out.

Zarabelle Penthurst was sick of the constant attention from Dimmey. Many girls would be flattered to have a valuable suitor attempting to court them. Dimmey's father owned a factory in Eryup and was quite well off. Dimmey was also quite the attractive young male - he had neat dark hair and a big pair of stunning green eyes. But he wasn't her type. She didn't have a physical type, but she had an emotional type. Dimmey wanted a trophy wife. Zarabelle wanted to be more than a trophy wife. She knew they weren't compatible and there was no point looking into it any further.

"Well I didn't bring anything, no. Guess you better hop in and go out with me then." Dimmey winked.

"I'm right, thanks," Zarabelle briskly stated before quietly turning to her friend "C'mon, let's go towards the bar. Dimmey won't leave his precious Speeder unattended. This will get rid of him."

Zarabelle and her female companion then briskly turned their backs and made their way towards the bar away from the tables near the entrance. Dimmey called out to them in a futile attempt to prevent them from departing but the girls ignored him as they approached the bar.

By now they had lost the attention of the patrons of the drinking establishment who had quickly forgotten the loud rumbling noise and had gone back to their conversations. This included Poe and the Pantoran woman who had gone back to flirting with each other.

"...that's why I don't have any facial markings as of yet. I decided to not take my family's markings for a clean slate for when I meet a man and make a family of my own. Tell me more about your family." The female stated as she shot Poe a sultry look when she asked her question.

"Well both my parents were pilots during the Rebellion. Luke Skywalker was so impressed with them he gifted them a Force-sensitive tree at the end of the war." Poe proudly boasted, even puffing out his chest at the end of his statement.

"Wow, Luke Skywalker?! That's impressive!" the Pantoran female responded wide-eyed in amazement.

"Pfffft!" a voice came from Poe's right.

He narrowed his eyes at his naysayer as he turned to give this person an earful. Before he could do this he was caught off-guard by the identity of the heckler. It was the girl from before - the one the Speeder driver was trying to woo.

Up close he could make out more of her features. She had absolutely nothing on the sexy Pantorian he was currently attempting to chat up, but she was moderately attractive- more in a 'cute' rather than 'hot' way. Her figure seemed rather average - but her face was sweet looking. Round blue eyes, soft features and a few almost faded freckles dotted around her nose.

He then composed himself as he remembered she had been attempting to eavesdrop and heckle him. He said nothing but raised an eyebrow at her in an attempt to intimidate her intrusion.

It didn't work. Instead the girl began to address Poe's new companion directly.

"Seriously, who's family HASN'T had any involvement with Luke Skywalker," Zarabelle stated in a cocky manner before turning to Poe's companion "Seriously, you're hot. You can demand something way more impressive from this schmuck."

Poe wanted to get annoyed at the girl. He wanted to yell at her to buzz off and mind her own business. He wanted to be able to re-establish his evening companion's admiration and respect. But he couldn't find himself able to. His own proud and confident demeanor had meant he was deeply impressed with this newcomer. He was ready to step up to the challenge and win against this troublesome girl.

"Oh, and what family member of yours is acquainted with Skywalker?" Poe asked curiously.

His new attractive friend remained silent as she eyed the exchange between Poe and the new girl inquisitively. She was interested to see how this would all pan out.

"My brother. He's force-sensitive and is currently training under old mate Skywalker himself. So you're not special, buckaroo." The new girl teased, keeping a smile on her face in an attempt to keep the exchanges fairly light hearted.

"Ooooh. She's insulting you. How are you going to take that?" The Pantoran female asked Poe with a devilish smile on her face, as she grabbed his arm and stroked it.

Zarabelle raised an eyebrow at the foreigner's words. She couldn't read this female and thus couldn't understand the meaning behind her words. Either this woman was playing along in a joking manner or she actually wanted Poe to argue for her approval. Zarabelle continued to study the attractive face of the other woman but couldn't come to a conclusion.

It seemed Poe also couldn't tell the intentions of his companion. He therefore made the quick decision to remain neutral. He was willing to impress a beautiful woman in hopes of spending the night with her, but he wasn't willing to enter a fight to win over her affections. That would be trying too hard, and he certainly couldn't have any of that nonsense. He was far too proud to go too far to impress a lady. He was only doing this because the new girl had laid down the gauntlet and he was ready to challenge her.

"What's your name, anyway? May I know the name of my great insultor?" Poe curiously asked his heckler.

"Great insultor, that sounds like a much more impressive thing to be addressed as. But it's Zarabelle." Zarabelle sniggered upon Poe's question.

Poe went quiet for a few moments at the girl's statement. He suddenly realised she may have been flirting with him. Different people had different styles of flirting, light teasing and insulting was one of them. He didn't know her well enough to know her flirting style but he didn't care to find out. He was very happy with his Pantoran girl.

If the girl was only heckling him to be flirty, he had already won. There was no challenge to step up to. The Pantoran female was much more attractive to him than the heckler, even though she was cute. He still chose the Pantoran female. He could now safely back down and get on with his evening.

"Nice to be insulted by you Zarabelle. My name is Poe. Have a good night." Poe grinned towards Zarabelle, turning his back on her to give his full attention to his companion.

Zarabelle understood the social cue and smiled at the couple before ordering a round to go and find her friend. She wasn't offended at the brush off. In fact she was surprised he didn't attempt it the second she rudely butt in. That's what he was supposed to do after all. Poe had just lost her money.

Zarabelle was not flirting with Poe, but instead had put a wager on him with her friend. Once they were able to shake off Dimmey they began to people watch. Their eyes landed on Poe. Zarabelle made a bet with Pegah in that the man they now knew was Poe, would be deeply insulted if he was heckled by Zarabelle whilst trying to court an attractive Pantoran female. The bet was that he would shake her off angrily and quickly - with either yelling, or best case scenario a drink thrown in the face.

Instead Poe embraced the heckling and had outsmarted Zarabelle. Zarabelle had lost the bet.

"That conversation lasted four minutes." Pegah, Zarabelle's friend smirked upon her return.

"Yes." Zarabelle grunted.

"You said it would last thirty seconds after you insulted him. That was the bet. You owe me a round." Pegah sung out.

"Here's your drink. You don't have to pay me back." Zarabelle huffed as she shoved the purple liquid into Pegan's outstretched hand.

Zarabelle's tantrum had grabbed the attention of a table close by. The three males had not noticed Zarabelle and her friend Pegah until a few moments prior when Zarabelle had joined her friend. The three young males were single and hoping to meet other single females tonight to try out their luck. They now had their sights set on Zarabelle and Pegah.

The de facto leader was a very confident boy named Davey. He had an overinflated ego and a very high opinion of himself and his skills. His confidence in the past had drawn his two friends to him like flies. Therefore it was Davey who would approach the two girls, and his two friends would follow in hope.

"Excuse me, but I couldn't help to overhear that you two ladies just had a wager. On what exactly?" Davey asked the two cockily.

Pegah eyed Zarabelle hopefully and remained silent as she sent a coy grin in the direction of the males that had joined them.

"Doesn't matter. I bet on the wrong odds and would like to put it in the past. I'm Zarabelle." Zarabelle confidently stated as she offered her hand for Davey to shake.

Davey smirked as he instead took the hand and kissed it in a gentlemanly way. He assumed he had caught Zarabelle easily and would be going home with her tonight. He would allow his other two friends to fight over the slightly-less attractive friend of Zarabelle.

Pegah on the other hand nervously eyed Zarabelle. She knew Davey certainly was not Zarabelle's type. Zarabelle didn't like cocky boys which is why they just had a wager on another over confident looking stranger - who Zarabelle knew was named Poe. Pegah knew Zarabelle was up to something with Davey and was interested to see how it would unfold.


	3. Chapter 3

"...so yeah. That's why I'm the best air traffic controller at Whitefield spaceport. Which is the best spaceport on this damn planet." Zarabelle arrogantly bragged as she finished her drink and slammed the empty glass onto the table to exaggerate her point.

She had been spending the last hour in Davey's company listening to him talk himself up proudly. Zarabelle heard him explain all about how he and his family were involved middle management of a factory in Eryup, the underprivileged city of the planet. She would have felt sorry for him and the wealth divide except for the fact his family seemed to be doing alright for themselves even in a poor city - he had spent all of their time together bragging about how he and his family bully their workers.

The only reason she had not departed his company was due to the fact she was able to watch Davey's two friends fight over Pegah's attention. If she blew off Davey she knew Pegah would follow her, and she'd no longer have front row seats to the greatest show of the night. One of the friends was flexing his muscles and trying to prove how strong he was. The other seemed to splashing around his cash after 'accidentally' dropping his designer wallet.

Zarabelle was glad Davey was having a one-sided conversation about his so-called achievements. It made it so much easier for her to just zone out and nod every now and again so she could keep her eyes on her friend. Until now, when Davey was finally asking about her and what she did for a living. Zarabelle was now thinking about looking for a way out of the conversation.

"Who's family ISN'T involved in the airline industry?" Zarabelle heard a cocky voice ask from her right.

She swiveled around on her stool and came face to face with the same man from before she had heckled - he even went so far as to mimic the cocky words she had used on him before. He had a crooked smile on his olive-skinned face to show he was up to mischief and Zarabelle couldn't have been any happier. Davey's two friends attempting to court Pegah had been officially downgraded. This could be the new best act of the night.

"Mine, actually." Davey snarled towards Poe as he gripped a large hand around Zarabelle's waist. He was feeling threatened by the male newcomer, especially as he didn't know about the previous events of the night.

Poe flashed his eyes away from the grinning yet sweet face of Zarabelle as he turned to look at the male. This other male was overdressed, which was saying something as this was a swanky bar. He had on a formal tuxedo with bright yellow silk folded elaborately in his pocket square. Perhaps Poe could have fun with both the overdressed boy as well as the arrogant Zarabelle - two birds, one stone.

"Too bad there, sport. Airline industry families are all the rage." Poe winked towards Davey.

This caused Zarabelle to let out a snort. She could see that Poe was trying to wind them both up. She knew she was in for a bit of fun.

"Well...before, you mentioned your parents were pilots. That's cool and all, but what's your profession. Baggage handler for a commercial ship?" Zarabelle sniggered as she teased Poe.

Despite Zarabelle saying words to purposely stir him, Poe kept his attention on Zarabelle's male companion. He didn't seem too pleased to be losing Zarabelle's attention as his grip on her waist seemed to be getting tighter and tighter. She now realised this too and was starting to edge off her chair to get away from him.

"That's awfully kind of you to remember what my parents were, sweetheart," Poe commented as he bravely tapped Zarabelle's nose to tease her, causing her to screw her face up "But no. I too, am a pilot."

Zarabelle was about to say something insulting, but Davey had grabbed her waist tightly in an effort to try and escort her away from their spot. She turned to shoot him a filthy look and dug her heels into the ground. This wasn't lost on Poe who grew even more unimpressed with Davey. Poe almost dropped his teasing to tell Davey to buzz off and see if Zarabelle was okay. But Zarabelle could handle it.

"What are you doing?" Zarabelle shot towards Davey.

"I'm going to the bar to buy you a drink. What's your poison, beautiful?" Davey asked Zarabelle as he shot her a smile from his perfect white teeth. It was a charming manoeuvre that worked well on most girls. Too bad for him, Zarabelle Penthurst was a bigger charmer and was immune to most forms of flattery.

"No thank you. I'm right. I don't believe a man should have to buy women drinks or other gifts to retain their attention. I'm not a common whore. Thanks, though." Zarabelle politely responded. She wasn't being rude in her response, just stating her feelings.

Zarabelle's charismatic words would work on the two men in proximity. They had the intended effect on Davey. He grinned thinking he had cemented Zarabelle's lust so much that he didn't need to invest in her at all. He informed her he was getting 'one last drink' before skipping over to the bar.

But she had now also piqued Poe's interest as well. Previously he thought she was a cute (but not sexy) trouble maker. But now parts of her personality were shining through, he felt a growing attraction to her. Especially as she was now showing desirable traits that were the opposite of what caused him to be turned off his previous companion of the evening - the highly attractive Pantoran woman who had long since departed him.

It was no longer just her personality and he wit that he liked. Her soft features he had overlooked before were now growing on him. It was still true that she may not have looked as 'hot' as the Pantoran from before. But he found her adorable. The smoldering looks of the Pantoran may be the looks a man would look for someone he wants a good time with. Zarabelle had a softer level of attractive that a man would want for a long time, not a good time.

"I will pay you five credits right here, right now if you can cause me a distraction to get away from that wanker." Zarabelle suddenly said to Poe, grabbing the conversation in the silence he was using to admire her face.

Poe was stunned for a moment as Zara's proposition caught him off guard. He didn't realise she had been trying to get away from the other cocky male. Poe knew she was growing tired of the other male, but didn't realise she was at wit's end. He would use this to his advantage. He may have lost the interest of the Pantoran female from before, but now he had his sights set on Zarabelle.

"Tell you what. You can keep your credits. I'll do you this favour if you let me take you out for dinner straight after." Poe confidently asked her with a smug grin.

Zarabelle's eyes widened. She was now the one caught off guard. After heckling the man before who had his sights on a woman far better looking than her, she wasn't expecting him to ask her on a date, albeit a last minute date.

She also wasn't keen on being second choice. As soon as Poe came over to interrupt her and Davey out of revenge Zarabelle noticed the beautiful Pantoran woman was out of sight. It didn't take much for her to figure out she had only captured Poe's attention now the other woman was gone. Sloppy seconds were not her style.

"Are you asking me out?" Zarabelle asked as she cocked up an eyebrow. She wanted to be one hundred percent sure of Poe's intentions before she unleashed on him.

"Are you going to say yes?" Poe asked back as he mimicked her actions of raising an eyebrow.

She smirked at his avoidance of the question. He was definitely interested in her. Therefore this was now fair game. He was only asking her out because his first choice fell through. Zarabelle knew she could now go further than slightly pestering him. She knew exactly how to do this efficiently too.

"Ew, you creep. I'm only seventeen." Zarabelle mocked him, screwing up her face in mock disgust to try and stop herself from giggling and smirking at the discomfort she was about to unleash onto him.

Zarabelle got the intended effect out of Poe that she was digging for. His dark eyes widened in shock before he furrowed his brow into a frown. He remained silent as he studied her face. Was she winding him up, or was she serious? She was fairly sweet and innocent looking with her round blue eyes and soft features - she was definitely youthful looking. But if she were only seventeen she shouldn't be able to gain entry to this bar. This entire system had a blanket drinking age of eighteen. From what he knew of her she was a stirrer. He couldn't trust this information.

"I don't believe you." Poe confidently remarked with a large confident grin on his face.

"That's up to you, not my problem," Zarabelle shrugged as she got off her chair quickly and grabbed her cape from the back and draped it over her shoulders "What is my problem though is airhead pretty boy at the bar. I'm gonna get rid of him but then I'm bouncing. Laters."

Without a second glance back at Poe she approached the bar. He watched on intently as her sudden departure had him confused. Was she calling it a night? Would she not be coming back over?

Poe kept his eyes on Zarabelle keenly. He watched as she approached her previous dark haired, green eyed companion. From the distance it didn't look as if Zarabelle was dismissing Davey. In fact it was the complete opposite - she was whispering in his ear suggestively and had placed one of his strong arms around her waist. The only indication that the 'airhead pretty boy' (as Zarabelle had previously called him) was going to be abandoned was when he tried to plant a big kiss on her lips but got her cheek when she quickly turned her head.

"Hi there stranger. You look awfully lonely here all by yourself. Would you like company tonight?" Poe heard a woman ask as she took the seat previously occupied by Zarabelle.

He only gave her a quick glance. She wasn't ugly, but a little plain looking. Not his usual type - he normally went for exotic beauties like his Pantoran woman earlier. Even Zarabelle wasn't his normal type and if she hadn't spoken to him he wouldn't have even given her a second glance. But he had spoken to her and he was now drawn to her based on her charm and personality. Which was why he was still so focused on her.

"Just a sec." Poe muttered to the new woman as he flicked his eyes back to Zarabelle.

He noticed her male companion was now leaving the room and had made his way to the left of the bar where it was advertised there were 'V.I.P. private booths' available. As soon as he was out of sight Zarabelle was scampering the opposite way - towards the door. Zarabelle was staying true to her word - she was getting rid of Davey.

Poe quickly looked to the woman who had struck up conversation with him. Poe knew that unlike the two other girls he had struck out with tonight, this one could be a sure thing. But maybe he no longer wanted to chase skirts tonight. Maybe he just wanted to enjoy his stop-over on this fairly boring planet and do something adventurous.

"Hey. Uh, sorry, I just realised I'm late for something," Poe quickly stammered out thinking quickly as he got up from his seat "Thanks for the offer of company though. Appreciate it."

He only had a second to see the woman's face who looked a little hurt and stunned by the quick rejection. Poe didn't mean to be rude and in any other situation he would have stopped to comfort the woman before he went on his way. But he had to catch up to Zarabelle.

He flung himself through the bar and out into the street outside. The air was warm, but not hot and he took a moment to appreciate it before he jogged down the road to catch up with Zarabelle.

Zarabelle had looked behind her to see if Davey was following her but turned to see Poe briskly approaching her down the immaculately paved street. Rather than be annoyed she wore a grin that went from ear to ear.

"Why are you following me? You had a super hot Pantoran woman earlier, what happened there?" Zarabelle asked Poe once he had caught up to her. Instead of stopping to talk she continued to walk on and Poe followed blindly.

"Yeah… that didn't work out." Poe grumbled.

"Why?" Zarabelle sweetly asked as she knew Poe was trying to gloss over the topic.

"Well uh, another guy came over to buy her drinks and essentially started a bidding war for her attention through propositions of drinks and dinner. That's why I really liked your comment to that guy just before. It's kind of uncool when women use men for free stuff." Poe responded.

"Psh, misogynist. Men do plenty of unsavoury things in bars too," Zarabelle teased him before turning sincere "But I do agree. I think playing with anyone's emotions purely for gain is wrong. Regardless of gender, or species"

"You keep playing with my emotions for gain - you keep teasing me to get a rise out of me for entertainment." Poe cheekily pointed out.

He was still following Zarabelle down the street and was trying to focus on their conversation but found himself also admiring the scenery around him. It looked modern, but invented. Everything from the buildings, to the street lights, sidewalks and even the bins were untainted and new. There were no marks or chips on anything and the rendering on every surface was bright and stainless. The entire city looked unlived in - like a display home. He knew Thebago was a new planet with no history but he didn't realise how much of a lack of culture would affect every small detail.

"Yet you keep coming back. So you're getting something out of my constant proddings. It's a mutually beneficial agreement." Zarabelle pointed out.

"What happened with pretty boy at the bar?" Poe asked curiously as he stopped inspecting his surroundings and gave his full attention back to Zarabelle.

"As I said, I was getting rid of him. I told him to strip down and meet me in one of those private booths. I hope for his sake he gives up and puts his clothes on before someone goes in there and finds him in a state of undress." Zarabelle snickered.

Poe burst into laughter upon her words. He felt a little sorry for the male who was only trying to score a night of passion and instead had this cruel joke played on him. But Poe didn't know the boy, perhaps he had done something to deserve it.

It also made him realise that Zarabelle hadn't played any major jokes on him in order to dismiss him. She must have enjoyed his companionship tonight and had a funny way of showing it.

"So are, are you really seventeen? And if so, how did you get away with drinking in a bar tonight?" Poe asked her curiously. He had been dying to ask her this question but the conversation and her actions had been moving too fast for him to get in this question.

Zarabelle remained silent for a moment as she watched Poe. He looked curious as she watched him stare at her in wonder - but she noticed he didn't look hopeful on her answer. It seemed to her that he wanted her friendship tonight. He wasn't after anything else. Therefore she dropped her defensive and playful charade towards him.

"I am. Just three weeks to go until I'm eighteen, so don't worry about feeling like a creep in my presence-" Zarabelle began to explain but she was promptly cut off by Poe being defensive.

"-I didn't. I backed off the second you said you were under eighteen. But if it makes you feel better I'm not really that much older than you. I'm twenty two."

Zarabelle glared at him as she didn't appreciate being rudely cut off by him. When she was sure he was done talking she then spoke up again.

"I was at the bar because I was taking advantage of a situation. The Whitefield Auction Ball is on tonight. It's only run every two years, so everyone sixteen and seventeen year old is there. As I look too old to be a fifteen year old the bartenders assume I must be eighteen or above if I'm not at the Auction Ball."

Poe's head snapped up at Zarabelle's words as he remembered what happened when he first noticed Zarabelle in the bar earlier. That boy had hassled her for a date and had loudly exclaimed they were both not present at this 'Auction Ball' event. Poe at the time wanted to know what this thing was. Now he had the opportunity to find out.

"What is the Auction Ball, anyway?" Poe asked smoothly.

The cogs in Zarabelle's head began to turn as a wicked smile grew over her face. Her and her friend's devious plans of having a great night on the town had just been cut short when her friend decided to stay at the bar to have Davey's two friends fight over her. Zarabelle wasn't ready to call it a night and Poe could be her ticket to a memorable and funny occasion.

"Wanna find out first hand?" Zarabelle asked Poe as she kept her wide smile on her face.

Poe looked around the city as he quickly contemplated Zarabelle's proposition.

This was his crossroad decision for the evening. He could spend his one night on Thebago enjoying the nightlife of this unknown city in hopes of finding another beautiful lady to try his luck on.

Or he could accept Zarabelle's proposal of attending an esteemed event that the capital city of the planet had to offer, in the presence of someone who he found very entertaining.

It was an easy decision for him. He'd have many opportunities in the future to chase beautiful women. He'd most likely never have another invitation to attend an 'Auction Ball' with a sassy girl who would attempt to make the most out of the event.

Zarabelle squirmed a little for the first time this evening as she lost her confidence a little at Poe's delayed response. Her perfectly plucked eyebrows furrowed and her blue eyes eyes grew wide as she began to twirl her hair around her finger anxiously - her nervous habit. She didn't have issues attracting the opposite sex but her success rate was partially because she never made the first move. It was rare for her to extend an invitation. Therefore the silence was making her a nervous wreck - for the first time tonight Zarabelle Penthurst was going from bold to just plain human.

"Sure thing. On one small, simple condition." Poe finally answered.

"What is it?" Zarabelle asked as she quietly let out a sigh of relief. She didn't want Poe to know his pause had made her nervous.

"You have a really long name and it's going to get very exhausting calling you 'Zarabelle' over and over. So I'm going to call you Belle." Poe stated with a serious look on his face as he squinted his eyes to tell her how he would refer to her as.

Zarabelle considered it for a moment as she turned her mouth to the side in thought and slowly nodded. But then a thought hit her as she snapped her fingers and grinned.

"Yes! Perfect. Call me Belle, because I'll be the belle of the ball," Zarabelle snickered before she punched Poe playfully on the shoulder "Get it? Because you're going to call me Belle."

Poe appreciated her terrible attempt at humour and began to laugh at how awful her play on words was.

"Yeah….one other condition. No more cheesy puns." Poe laughed towards her.

* * *

"You can best me for the eighth time in a row, Solo. But I got you one time. Never forget it." Chaz teased his fellow apprentice as he picked himself up from the ground with a huge grin.

It had been a few weeks since training under Luke Skywalker had commenced. It was quickly becoming apparent who would be the strongest and who would require further training to unlock their potential.

The boys would switch training partners on a daily basis as Luke determined it was important for them all to train on different people. This was so that they would learn different combat styles and how to overcome them. They were all still using staffs - it would be a very long time before he deemed them proficient enough to use lightsabers.

It was clear as day that the strongest one in the ranks was Ben Solo. He was the speediest one in combat and was able to easily catch off his peers in their sparring matches. He was also far ahead in his knowledge of using the force. This was all a combination of genetics and a higher level of prior training.

Chaz Penthurst was considered a dark horse. He was one of the weaker ones in using the force and was struggling to grasp Luke's lessons. However what he lacked in using the force, he gained in his combat skills. He had pure strength, he was much stronger than all of the other boys. Most people with strength had sacrificed speed for this power. But Chaz was still quite speedy too. He was the only one who had managed to overcome Ben in combat, albiet Ben had defeated Chaz quadruple the amount of times.

Luke had very high hopes for Chaz once Chaz could overcome his weaknesses with the force. Luke believed it was due to Chaz's personality and upbringing - he was a cocky and spoiled boy. Once he could let go of these factors and clear his mind, he would be able to let the force in to take over his body and mind.

"We'll see, Penthurst." Ben smirked towards his friendly adversary.

Like his uncle, Ben saw a lot of potential in Chaz. He was the only apprentice he considered an equal and thus was the only fellow student he associated with. The two boys were becoming fast friends, a concept that was new to Ben. He had never had many friends growing up. But recently he had almost been glued at the hip to Chaz and the two boys rarely associated with anyone else aside from instances where they had to liaise with the other students.

"Penthurst, you have a video call. It's your mother." One of the other boys lazily called out as he entered the recreational room a few of the students were spending their downtime in.

"Too bad it's outside visitation hours," Emmett, Chaz and Ben's biggest adversary snorted "You'll have to call ya mum back during visitation hours."

Luke Skywalker had a very new set of rules for his new Jedi Order he was establishing. Prior to setting up his academy he had done extensive research to ensure the mistakes of the past were not repeated.

The most important rule that Luke saw fit to change was the stigma surrounding relationships- both platonic and romantic. In the past those who were training to become a Jedi were forced to abandon all friends, family and lovers if they wanted to join the Jedi Order, in order to remain focused to their causes. This strict rule was partially one of the reasons which caused Luke's father to fall to the dark side.

Luke was determined to not risk this becoming an issue again, so relationships were encouraged between his students and loved ones. He still needed his students to remain focused and clear-headed, so video calls and visitation hours were very restricted to small windows of time. Each student only had a number of contact hours permitted with their loved ones. This was a very strict rule Luke enforced, but he would loosen this rule as training went on and as his students became more in line with the force.

"Yeah well, Master S isn't here right now. I'm taking this." Chaz smirked towards Emmett as he flung himself out of the common room.

'Master S' was an arrogant name that Chaz had for Skywalker. He had only used it to his face once and was chastised brutally for the disrespectful shortening of the surname. Therefore it was now only saved for when Skywalker wasn't around.

Chaz jogged through the high ceiling roomy corridors and came skidding to a halt as he found his destination - the communications room.

Chaz slid in after checking the coast was clear and came face to face with his mother on one of the screens. She had her thick sandy blonde hair secured into a tight bun and a heavily made-up face - more so than usual. Chaz realised she must have been on her way to one of Thebago's luxurious events for the elite of the planet.

"Hello mother. How do you do?" Chaz asked his mother as he cocked up an eyebrow. He was wondering why she requested a video call at this moment.

A loud snort came from the back of the room and Chaz turned around to see Ben standing leaning against the door frame with his arms crossed, watching the exchange intensely. Chaz ignored Ben as he turned his attention back onto the screen.

"Yes, hello Chaz. How is training?" Mink Penthurst asked stiffly.

Chaz knew she was attempting to make small talk before she would mention why she called. If this was his sister, she would sarcastically call their mother out on her manipulations and snap asking their mother brashly what she wants. Not Chaz. Chaz knew it would be quicker to play along rather than waste time arguing.

"It is going well, thank you mother. How are things on Thebago?" Chaz asked in a forced polite manner.

Chaz heard yet another snort from behind him. He decided to ignore Ben this time and kept his focus on his mother's face on the screen in front of him. He wasn't sure why Ben found his conversation amusing - was it because Chaz was out of character sounding formal, or was it because Ben's own parents had yet to make contact with their son?

"Very well, in fact that's why I called. The Auction Ball is on right now as we speak. Zarabelle has had a last minute change of mind. She's on her way to Whitefield City Hall to participate." Mink proudly stated.

This time it was Chaz's turn to snigger. He knew how strongly against the Auction Ball his sister was. It was highly out of character for her to suddenly want to attend. She was up to something.

"Well, good for her. I'm sure life as a spaceport air traffic controller is very mundane. Give her some excitement, eh?" Chaz responded as he held himself together to prevent continuous laughter.

Luckily for Chaz his amusement was lost on his mother. He didn't have exactly the same gifts of charisma as Zarabelle, but the one person he could charm that she couldn't was their mother. Both of them detested her, but Zarabelle struggled to contain her disdain whilst Chaz liked to humour his hatred.

"Yes I thought you would be proud for your sister. We managed to slot her in for the last auction of the night. Any chance you could sneak away and be here in an hour?" Mink confidently asked her son.

"Errr, mum, that's pretty much impossible…" Chaz trailed off.

"Chaz Penthurst! This night is a turning point for your sister! This is the night she may finally accept her position in Thebago's high society. If her older brother was there for support I know we could both persuade her into a new life." Mink shrieked at her son, causing Chaz to wince at both the ear splitting voice used as well as her choice of words.

"Trust me. I want to be there, really bad." Chaz truthfully stated but suppressed the smirk he wanted to give.

"Don't lie to me Chaz. If you really wanted to be here, you'd find a way." Mink scowled towards her eldest child.

"Mum, there's no spaceships on this planet. Skywalker has forbidden ships being permanently docked on here. Even if there was a ship I could steal, it would be impossible to get to Whitefield in an hour. You know it takes at least three." Chaz whined, beginning to lose his cool due to his mother's unreasonable rant.

"If you say so." Mink muttered in defeat, as the line was cut and moments later Chaz was face to face with his own scowling face being reflected in the blank monitor screen.

"I'm interested to know what ships your mother thinks are here that could travel to Thebago in an hour. Aside from my father's ship I don't know of any that could." Ben said from behind which caused Chaz to jump as he forgot his peer was in the room with him.

"Yeah, dunno. I was being serious though, I really do wish I was there. Zarabelle is dead set against the whole concept of the Auction Ball and has been protesting attending since she was a little girl. She's up to something." Chaz grinned towards his friend.

"What exactly is an Auction Ball and why would one be against it?" Ben sniggered, as he was amused by Chaz's words.

This question triggered Chaz and shifted his mood. He had so far been able to put an emotional wall up and allow his sassy and sarcastic manner to remain strong. But the psychological effects from Ben's question were tearing his barriers down.

A few months ago Chaz was a normal boy. He was drifting between jobs trying to find his place in this universe. Friday nights he went to his bar of choosing with his large group of friends and normally found a short-term honey to take home. His life may have lacked meaning and had nothing set in concrete, but it was his life. A life he was in complete control of. Something of his own.

Now everything was strict and regulated - down to his daily schedule, his meals, and who he spent his time with. He knew he had a powerful gift and that choosing to attend Luke's Jedi academy was the best decision he had ever made in his life.

But Ben's one question reminded him of his sister, and how much he missed her. It made him yearn for his past life.

"It's a rite-of-passage kind of deal in our city, Whitefield. It's only held once every two years. Every high society girl who is aged sixteen or seventeen is allowed to attend to be auctioned off." Chaz explained to Ben.

Ben was silent for a few moments as he studied Chaz's face, trying to see if there was some hidden meaning behind Chaz's words or whether there was more to the story. When Chaz didn't continue to explain Ben asked the burning but simple question.

"You mean, they auction off the girls? To men? To purchase them?" Ben asked as he cocked up an eyebrow in disbelief.

"Traditionally, yes-" Chaz began but was cut off by mocking laughter from Ben.

"How can a planet that's still in its infancy have tradition? Isn't Thebago only a couple of hundred years old?" Ben asked Chaz in amusement.

"Yes," Chaz responded stoically "Back when the planet was new, err newer, the girls were auctioned off to the highest bidder for marriage. Social changes now frown upon such archaic customs, it would almost be a form of slavery."

Chaz stopped his explanation as he watched Ben's reaction. Ben was looking over at Chaz curiously. His eyes were burning into Chaz's face - so much so that he wasn't blinking. He was clearly hanging onto every word coming out of Chaz's mouth.

"Please, enlighten me then. What is the modern version of this 'Auction Ball'?" Ben growled sarcastically as he used air quotation marks in his question.

Ben was annoyed that Chaz had the upper hand in this conversation and had managed to grab his attention and force him to beg for the answers. He tried to remain formidable in his question but he knew Chaz would be seeing straight through his calm demeanour.

"The girls are auctioned off for just one date, instead. It's a win-win scenario for all of Whitefield's high society. Boys get to brag about their wealth and splash their cash. Girls get bragging rights if they get high bids." Chaz went on to explain.

"So your sister - she's against it because she wouldn't attract a high bid?" Ben asked Chaz.

It was now Chaz's turn to snort towards Ben.

"I forgot, you don't know Zarabelle. I'm sure that girl could charm the highest bid over all the other girls. But that would involve pleasing our mother and falling in line to societal expectations," Chaz responded with a large grin. "That girl is up to something, and I can't wait to find out what happened."

Ben only sent a nod towards Chaz, being satisfied with his response now all of his questions had been answered. Previously Ben hadn't paid much attention to the information Chaz had provided him about his family. Ben wasn't close to his own family and thus didn't care to hear facts about other people's relatives either.

But after what he had heard from Chaz about his sister, Ben now had a small interest in Zarabelle Penthurst and wanted to know more about her.


	4. Chapter 4

**Some parts of this story will lean more on the 'real world' cusp of things and may not be real in the Star Wars universe (like fridges or bags of cheese). Just a warning if you're picky about these sorts of things. However canon will be followed as closely as possible**

* * *

Both Poe and Zarabelle had very different reactions as they walked into the Whitefield Town Hall arm-in-arm. It was nothing to Zarabelle, who had seen many fancy parties in her relatively short lifetime on this planet. Poe on the other hand was in a state of amazement as he looked around. There was never anything like this on Yavin 4.

The lights had been dimmed as the large ballroom was fairly dark, but enough lights shone in different areas to bounce off the occupants to illuminate them enough to be seen. There was also lots of gold and diamonds scattered around - gold platters and plateware, diamond jewellery on the women, gold pillars holding up the strong ceiling and great big diamond chandeliers hanging from those ceilings.

Poe was in awe at how fancy the room had been dressed up. He thought it was very extravagant, but a little wasteful as well. The occupants in the room were dressed up just as decorative as the furnishings around them.

"There's enough wealth in this room to settle all slavery debts in this part of the galaxy. But no, showing off is a more worthy cause of this affluence." Zarabelle spat as she confidently strut through the party, with Poe in tow.

"Tonight you've shown you have traits such as my heckler, sassy, sarcastic and if we're being honest a bit of a spoilt brat. Didn't expect to add humanitarian to that list." Poe admitted to Zarabelle.

"Bite me, errr what's your surname again?" Zarabelle stated as she thought real hard about Poe's last name "Dameron. Yeah. Bite me, Dameron."

Upon hearing those words Poe quickly jumped in front of Zarabelle to stop her in her tracks. He felt a little bad about his prior statement and wanted to clear the air with Zarabelle to stop any possible resentment from bubbling up to ruin their night.

"It's a good thing! Outside of those who serve under the New Republic it's actually quite rare to find people who give a damn about others. It's refreshing. I was just remarking that you're full of surprises. You're a very interesting person, Belle." Poe explained.

"I know. Life is too short to be boring," Zarabelle beamed as she wasn't upset with Poe one bit "Now go to the main stage. I'm going to go find my mum. I'll see you soon."

Poe wasn't sure what to do as he departed from Belle. He had only met her tonight, they definitely weren't close enough for a kiss on the cheek or a hug goodbye. Luckily for him she sensed his awkward demeanour and instead she presented her fist for a fist bump. Poe bumped her fist with his own wearing a large grin before he scampered off.

Zarabelle went to look for her mother but she didn't have to search far. In no time at all Mink Penthurst had gracefully strutted over to her daughter in all of her glory. Her heavily made-up eyes closely took in Zarabelle's form as she scrutinised her daughter's attire.

"I should be quite mad at you for not making any effort in your appearance, Zarabelle. However I'm glad you've come to your senses to participate. I assume the of absence of prettying yourself up is due to a lack of time." Mink rigidly greeted her daughter.

Zarabelle took a few seconds to think of her response. Normally she'd love to bite back to her mother's insults and start a verbal war. But not tonight - she was on a mission. However at the same time she knew it would be too suspicious and too out of character to take the rude words lying down. She needed to be strategic in her reply.

"Yeah, something like that." Zarabelle grumbled.

"Well come on then. The previous auction has finished and they're signing the contracts now. You're due on stage any moment." Mink gruffly stated as she put hands on either side of Zarabelle's shoulders and frog marched her away.

* * *

Poe anxiously took many sips of the drink he had purchased as he kept flickering his eyes to the stage. He was darting his eyes towards many things in the glamorous town hall but there was one common theme he had noticed. There were many very attractive and well made-up women flirting one-on-one with smartly dressed men.

At first Poe thought it was typical of high society - good-looking women on the arms of affluent men. But then he realised these women were 'purchased' by these men tonight, no matter how much this 'Auction Ball' was downplayed as being only good fun. It made him shiver when he realised how creepy the entire concept was. Seeing it all first hand made him glad he was scheming with Belle in order to spice things up tonight.

"Who's the lucky last? The bids have gone too high tonight. This batch of girls are far too easy. Not marriage material so I haven't wasted my money." Poe heard another male scoff to his left whilst talking to one of his friends.

Poe took a good look at the two. They were dressed in extravagant yet intimidating robes that draped powerfully to create an illusion that the men were fierce and well-built. Poe had never seen such fashion before and guessed it was a fashion unique to Thebargo. The men also appeared very arrogant, based on the overly confident smirks on their faces

"I heard that apparently Zarabelle Penthurst was a late contender." The second male lowly gossiped.

"Zarabelle Penthurst! Gee, I'm glad I didn't waste my money on any of these other desperate girls. I'd bid high for her." The first unknown male grinned, piquing Poe's interest greatly upon hearing those words.

"She's certainly not the ugliest girl in the city. But I always thought she looked a little plain. She never dresses up. She'd make a terrible wife." The second man scoffed loudly.

"See, that's what I like about her. I like the whole bare-faced look she has going on. You know she doesn't need layers of makeup or ruffles to look good. A lot of women around probably look woeful should you wipe their faces off," The man replied before going quieter "Imagine how good she would look if she did put the effort in. Once you get to these strong women they're pretty easy to manipulate."

Poe was unable to contain himself as he let out a large snort at these men and their words. He had been trying to focus on the plan he and Belle had decided upon a little earlier to try and ease his mind, but he could no longer hold it in. He had to be his usual smart yet slightly irrational self towards these men.

The two men immediately turned to face Poe and sent him glowering looks as they did so.

"She's a strong one, that Zarabelle Penthurst. She may not have the same smoldering good looks as other women in this city but she seems to have double the amount of men after her. What makes her think she'll choose you?" Poe cockily grinned.

"Bud, this is an Auction Ball. The women don't choose, the men do. You do know what an Auction Ball is, right?" The first male (the one interested in Zarabelle) snarled towards Poe.

"I don't think he does. Look at the state of his attire. He looks like a runaway from Eryup. Probably thinks good women can be won over with charm and treating them well, instead of the truth which is charm and money." His friend laughed cruelly.

Poe took a step towards the two audacious men out of anger. In any other circumstance he would have no qualms to deliver a swift punch to the face to anybody who would dare to insult him so brutally.

But he stopped himself. This time he wouldn't need violence to beat them. He had a very carefully executed plan that would be going in his favour any moment now. If he harmed these two men that would just be ruining the events to come.

"Let's see how this plays out." The man interested in Zarabelle laughed before the lights dimmed.

A cheesy-looking older man clad in purple robes and fake dazzling white teeth to match strode out onto the magnificent stage that had been set-up.

"Welcome back ladies, gents, things and all others. I thank you for your patience. We only have one last auction for tonight, then all those who have bid for women tonight can go and enjoy their company." The balding presenter smiled towards the crowd.

Zarabelle shivered as she peaked from behind the curtain. She had always hated the Auction Ball and every single thing to do with it, but being caught up in the action made her hate it even more. The organisers always tried to publicly denounce any hints of slavery or prostitution involved but it was clear the issue was still very rife. Even the language used showed the men believed they had an ownership over the women participating.

"May I present to you Miss Zarabelle Penthurst!" The announcer enthusiastically presented and Zarabelle strut out from behind the red curtains on the stage.

There was a rowdy round of applause from the crowd and a few wolf whistles heard bounced around the town hall.

The bright lights in her face blinded her for a few seconds and she blinked to adjust her sensitive eyes to the illuminations hitting her face.

"Tell us a little bit about yourself, Zarabelle. Maybe give the very lucky man who wins your bid an idea of where to take you." The presenter said to Zarabelle as he handed her his microphone.

Zarabelle let a wicked grin upon this action. She completely forgot about this part of the Auction Ball. The women were supposed to tell the men about themselves in order to sell themselves for bids. Normally the speeches were prepared weeks if not months in advance and were full of grace and wit.

Not this one. Zarabelle was glad she hadn't prepared for this. It made it all the more satisfying.

"Hello to all. As you know, I'm Zarabelle Penthurst. I'm an air traffic controller at the spaceport and I plan to make more money in my career than any of you schmucks. I enjoy long walks to the fridge where I will stuff my face with cheese out of the bag." Zarabelle proudly stated.

A few murmurs broke out throughout the crowd. Zarabelle's vision was still slightly impaired from the bright lights but she was slowly adjusting. The first thing she could make out was her mother's disapproving glare to the side of the stage. Therefore she knew she had to continue.

"Any expectations on this date of yours?" The presenter asked, after being caught a little off guard by Zarabelle's strange response.

"Nope. But they better not have any expectations of me either. I don't put out on the first date." Zarabelle stated proudly.

"W-well there you have it. We've got ourselves a classy and traditional girl here." The presenter stuttered. He was attempting to move the conversation along but Zarabelle had one last quip to make.

"I sure am. I'm a traditional third date minimum kinda gal." Zarabelle said with an exaggerated seductive wink and lick of her lips.

A few different noises were made from the crowd gathered - some were approving such as cheers and wolf whistles however most were disapproving gasps or sniggers. It's the negative reactions she was digging for and the loudest scoff to be heard came straight from Mink Penthurst to the side.

"Yes well, we're running out of time so let the bidding again. Should we start at fifty credi-" The presenter began to say.

Zarabelle sent a hardened look towards Poe. It was time for their scheme to come into action and she required for him to jump in quickly to ensure it went to plan.

"Fifty. Psh, selling me a bit too high there." Zarabelle scoffed loudly. She didn't even need to look to the right of the stage. She could feel her mother's piercing glare, burning as if it were a physical form.

"The lowest bid we've received tonight is a thousand credits and let me tell you, that girl certainly didn't generate anywhere near the same interest as you." The presenter quietly said to Zarabelle as he covered his microphone to tell her this information.

"I'll put the first bid in! Half a credit." Poe shouted loudly as he cupped his hands around his mouth to become louder.

Poe's less than generous bid seemed to grab the attention of the entire town hall as the room grew silent - so quiet you could hear a pin drop.

"What did I tell you," one of the cocky men standing next to Poe whispered to his friend "This one clearly doesn't understand the Auction Ball. He's clearly from Eryup."

The only thing that could shock the room than Poe's minuscule bid would be Zarabelle's reaction.

"Sold! To the handsome pilot in the front row!" Zarabelle exclaimed with a large grin on her face.

The entire room were stunned upon Zarabelle's acceptance of the bid but the silence was broken by whispers and murmurs of the crowd around them.

"I refuse to allow her to be won by such a small bid. I'll raise his half a credit bid and put down five thousand." The confident male next to Poe spoke up suddenly.

"Too bad I've already accepted his bid. No thanks." Zarabelle scoffed in response.

Poe stayed out of the exchange but he watched on intently. Zarabelle Penthurst was perhaps the most unpredictable and interesting girl he had ever met in his life. Not many people would turn down an easy five thousand credits for the sake of a subversive protest.

"But I've outbid him!" The man shot back quickly.

"Well too bad. I've accepted his bid. You have no say." Zarabelle shot back as she put her hands on her hips in disapproval of this man.

"He is technically bidding higher." The presenter quipped through his microphone in defence of the stranger.

"Oh, I thought the Whitefield Chamber of Commerce proudly advertised the Auction Ball is to honour our society to bring together boys and girls. I thought you loudly disassociated with the slavery and prostitution ties upon it was built three hundred years ago. My bad!" Zarabelle mocked loudly.

The presenter backed down and looked uneasy. On one hand he risked getting into the bad graces of one of the city's elite and powerful who was trying very hard to buy a date with Zarabelle. On the other he risked bad publicity should other planets in the galaxy get hold of Zarabelle's words. He felt stuck between a rock and a hard place.

"Sugartits, no one is forcing slavery or prostitution. I'm just buying a date with you so I can tell you how this all works in reality." The cocky man explained to Zarabelle, talking a bit slower to try and force her to understand.

This wasn't lost on Zarabelle. He was talking to her like she was an idiot. She didn't appreciate the sentiment.

"Well then if nothing is getting forced I decline your offer and accept the half a credit bid. Thanks for the offer though." Zarabelle flashed the stranger a cheeky smile as she turned her back on him. She walked to the front of the stage to offer a hand to Poe. He accepted and hoisted himself up onto the stage.

"Well there you have it folks! Zarabelle Penthurst has just accepted the lowest bid in Whitefield City history! Three hundred years strong and we've never had a bid that low!" The presenter announced in amazement as he put an arm around Poe "You seem to have picked up a bargain!"

Zarabelle could have gotten annoyed at being referred to as a good and not a person. Instead she was too busy watching her mother's glowering look from the side of the stage.

Mink Penthurst looked furious. Her face was scrunched up in anger - so much so that her crows feet to the side of her eyes were even more prominent than normal.

Zarabelle knew this was the ultimate way to annoy her mother - to have the lowest bid in the Auction Ball history. This is what she had planned with Poe. They had schemed to shake up this ball and that's exactly what they had done.

"Err...I'm not usually cheap!" Poe defended cockily as the presenter's words hit him.

"Just shut up and enjoy the moment, Dameron. We've annoyed an entire city of elite douchebags and most importantly, my mother. Let's bask." Zarabelle said through gritted teeth as she attempted to keep smiling and waving at the confused crowd.

Poe studied her as she did this. He still couldn't make up his mind on how attractive he found her. He found that she was a lot of fun and he enjoyed her sassy and vibrant personality. She was definitely something to look at too - her wide bright blue eyes were adorable and suited her soft-featured face. But he still had his favourite type of 'exotic beauties' and Belle definitely did not fit this label - in fact she was the opposite. She was fair featured.

He shook his head and realised he was being ridiculous. She was a seventeen year old girl he would never see again after tonight. In fact he would be departing from her very soon. It didn't matter whether he found her attractive or not.

The two ended up signing the contracts which made Poe's bid legally binding - for half a credit he had purchased a date with Zarabelle Penthurst. As the contracts were being prepared the presenter did quickly research and it was indeed the lowest bid in Whitefield's three hundred year history. Mission accomplished.

"C'mon. You can walk me back to my hotel. That's our date." Poe said to Zarabelle once everything had been finalised.

"Pfft, before you said you're not cheap. That's the cheapest date I've ever heard." Zarabelle teased but began to walk out of the hall to lead Poe outside.

The town hall was quickly emptying now the Auction Ball was over. Most of the younger crowd had long left the hall and only older occupants remained - some were reminiscing about their own Auction Balls in their youth whilst others were still gossiping about Poe and Zarabelle, hushing quickly when the 'couple' passed by them.

Eventually they wound up outside on the bland looking street. Zarabelle stopped in her tracks and remained silent as she eyed Poe. She wanted to see if he knew his way back to his hotel.

"So uh… do you know where Domain Street is? That's where my hotel is." Poe admitted after quickly looking around furiously and not finding anything that looked familiar.

"Yeah. Let's go on our romantic date of walking down these city streets to your hotel." Zarabelle smirked towards Poe as she began to lead him in the direction of Domain Street

"To be fair a good majority of these Auction Ball dates are probably going through something similar right now. The girls following the men back to their quarters…" Poe trailed off. He meant it as a joke to begin with but then quickly realised his 'joke' was probably true. Therefore it made his statement a lot more inappropriate.

"Yuck! Sounds like an even worse date than leading some foreign flyboy back to his accommodation. Come on _stud_ , you have approximately fifteen minutes to turn this date from icy cold to red hot." Zarabelle joked back, not phased one bit about Poe's statement.

The two began to walk through the bland streets of Whitefield with Poe blindly following Zarabelle. They made the same small talk they had made all night - talking about mostly superficial topics but divulging into a serious conversation every now and again.

"Okay, here is Domain Street. Do you need me to walk you to your hotel, or are you fine from here?" Zarabelle asked Poe once they reached the street.

Zarabelle didn't want to depart from him so quickly, but she knew their night was coming to an end. She figured he wanted to call it a night and go back to his room. Earlier in the night he had told her he was only here was a quick stopover with his newly formed crew he had command over. Tomorrow he would be returning to the neighbouring Mirrin System where his crew would begin a new mission. They had only touched upon the topic as Zarabelle had teased him a little before the subject was changed. Therefore she didn't know the full extent of his plans and how early he needed to depart the next day.

"C'mon Belle. I need one last insult hurled my way in order to polish off the night. The last time you sent one my way was before we entered that Auction Ball," Poe sniggered as he lightly elbowed her in the ribs "You have until we hit my hotel."

"Eh, I'm all tuckered out. Look to be honest I'm not as shallow or ditzy as I've portrayed myself tonight-" Zarabelle began quickly but she was cut off by Poe.

"-I didn't think you were." Poe defended.

Zarabelle curled her lips into a smile as she bore her shocking blue eyes into his dark ones.

"I know. But all night I've only been prodding and teasing you. I swear there's more to me than just that a sarcastic personality. I do have depth to me." Zarabelle explained as the two continued down the immaculately paved street.

"I've seen glimpses of it. Don't worry, I don't think you're an empty girl. When you only have one night with someone there's not a lot of room for stimulating conversations about, I don't know, theories of the universe or other intelligent stuff." Poe responded as he struggled towards the end of his statement to think of a relevant example.

Zarabelle giggled at his words but a strange feeling rose inside of her. One night only. She was getting along really well with Poe but it had only really just sunk in that she soon would be departing from him and she would never see him again. She felt small disappointment wash over her.

"I graduated school a year early. I'm a quick thinker with good attention to detail. That's why I went into air traffic control. Someone needs to protect you arrogant flyboys from yourself." Zarabelle quickly piped up to try and impress Poe.

"There we go. We got that last quip in there. Perfect timing - here's my hotel." Poe nodded to the moderate sized building they were in front of. It didn't really stick out amongst the other buildings as it was the same generic-looking architecture that was dotted around the city.

Zarabelle only sent Poe a nervous smile as a response. She felt uneasy that he hadn't reacted positively to her bragging. Her words were an attempt to try and open up a bit more to him, but her remarks had fallen flat. She felt a little dejected to Poe's oblivious manner.

Poe was completely unaware of the turmoils going on in Zarabelle's mind as he studied her form whilst waiting for the right time to call it a night and say goodbye. He watched her doe-sized eyes go round and she nibbled her lip nervously. He thought she was in the same boat as him - that she didn't know how to say bye. He didn't think there was anything else to it.

Before either of them could begin to depart Poe watched a familiar form approach him. He groaned as he watched one of his team members grin mischievously towards Belle once he was in front of them, before thudding Poe on the shoulder. Poe knew exactly what was about to happen.

"Hi, I'm Iolo. If you were coming upstairs to our room I can conveniently extend my walk for another, hour or so?" The man said as he introduced himself with a large grin.

"Hey. Zarabelle," Zarabelle apathetically introduced before continuing "But I won't be coming upstairs."

"Zarabelle here has been my friend for the evening. I struck out with this really hot Pantoran woman and found myself alone. Zarabelle here was kind enough to let me follow her around for the rest of the evening." Poe explained to his crew member.

Zarabelle smirked. She remembered earlier in the night she had figured she was Poe's second choice, and the same annoyance washed over her. She decided to drop the same bombshell to Poe's crew member that she dropped on Poe earlier in an attempt to get a rise out of the two men.

"Poe here actually purchased me at some slavery thing tonight. Half a credit for an evening with me. He got me from the bargain bin because I'm only seventeen." Zarabelle teased in order to try and make Poe look unsavoury.

Unfortunately for her, neither of the two men were intimidated. Unlike Zarabelle, Poe was familiar with Iolo. He knew his crew member and friend wouldn't be judgmental. It wasn't in character for Poe to partake in something as sleazy as exchanging money for an underage girl's company.

"This one couldn't get any bids so I felt sorry for and laid down the bare minimum." Poe exaggerated with a shrug.

Iolo only gave a nod as he was unsure how to respond. This caused silent tension to grow between the three.

"Well um… now you're in safe company I guess I'll be off." Zarabelle awkwardly stated as she jabbed her thumb in the opposite direction.

"O-okay. Thanks for the fun night. I think it was the perfect first, and last night on this planet I'll ever have." Poe responded quickly.

"Yeah well, it was nice meeting you. You too, Iolo." Zarabelle said as she took a few step backwards to begin to depart from the two.

"You've said a few words to me. How do you know it was nice to meet me? For all you know I'm a really boring person, or a total sicko." Iolo snorted loudly.

"Well now I know it was nice to meet you, you're funny. Maybe I spent the night with the wrong friend." Zarabelle giggled in response.

Iolo decided to remain quiet as he eyed his commander. He believed the next line spoken should come from Poe.

"I guess you'll never know," Poe said with a small smile as he shook his head "Anyway I won't keep you any longer. Stay safe on the walk back to your place."

"Yeah good luck on your upcoming missions. Don't die or anything. Catchya round." Zarabelle said with a swift nod and a small wave. She took one look at Poe and his team member who had joined him before she turned around and began to walk away.

Poe and Iolo watched her back for a few moments as she from them. Poe was the one who made the first move and walked through the doorway leading to the hotel lobby.

"Gee she was nice looking. I hope you got her contact details to stay in touch." Iolo mentioned to Poe.

Poe only sent his team member a feeble shrug.

"Really? You wouldn't want to see those big beautiful blue eyes again? She's not going to be seventeen forever, you know." Iolo gasped in surprise at Poe's revelation.

"You only like her eyes because yours are yellow and freakish looking," Poe teased his friend before continuing on "She's cute, but not my type. I didn't really see a point in continuing contact. She wasn't interested in me anyway. She only wanted an adventure tonight."

Iolo eyed his commander skeptically but said nothing as they retreated back through the hotel to their rented room.


	5. Chapter 5

Zarabelle Penthurst took her career very seriously. Just a week shy of eighteen she was one of the youngest air traffic controllers at the main commercial spaceport on Thebago, the planet she resided on. Outside of work she was sassy and sarcastic but during work hours she was a very different person.

"This is ship LPT-215 on final approach to Whitefield spaceport. Requesting further instructions." Zarabelle heard a pilot declare over her headset.

Zarabelle looked to the monitor to her left to see where on the radar this ship was and where the safest place for the ship to land would be.

"This is controller Penthurst speaking to ship LPT-215. Are you familiar with Whitefield City spaceport?" Zarabelle asked in a calm and professional voice only ever used by her whilst working.

"Affirmative." The pilot responded.

"Excellent. Runway three is clear and in the most direct path you're travelling. The wind is quite strong, blowing northerly so you will need to adjust your landing to accommodate. I would recommend landing at a slight angle to fight the wind." Zarabelle advised.

She waited a few moments for the pilot's response. Whenever she gave an opinion to a landing pilot she only ever received one of two reactions- gratitude for the tip or annoyance for the unsolicited advice. There was never anything in between.

"Thanks, love. Appreciate it." The pilot thanked her.

Zarabelle watched his aircraft on the radar make the approach to runway three. The pilot then announced his successful landing before making one last comment towards Zarabelle.

"Controller Penthurst, keep up the good work. I would have managed that landing no sweat, but that tip made it a whole lot easier."

Zarabelle went to reply but saw that he had cut off the engine and his communication systems had been shut down. She then felt a presence behind her. After removing her headset and swivelling around her chair to face behind her, she saw who it was.

She came face-to-face with her shift supervisor, Jack, who was cringing awkwardly. Jack was only a few years older than her. They got along well on business related matters but had no relationship outside of work. Zarabelle found Jack was too bland to have as a friend. She found he had no obvious interests, and lacked a personality. This even showed in the way he presented himself each day. High waisted pants with an oversized shirt and his hair always cut in an extremely unflattering short manner.

"Hello Jack. Is everything alright?" Zarabelle asked with concern on her face at her supervisor's strange presence.

He deeply breathed in as he clasped his hands together and brought them to his mouth. He was nervous.

"You're going to hate me." Jack informed Zarabelle.

Zarabelle only raised an eyebrow as a response. In a social situation she would certainly be sending a sarcastic comment Jack's way. She even thought of some in her head as a retort. However it was now work hours and she needed to remain professional.

"We need this month's sorting of the lost property to be completed." Jack began to explain.

"You know that's my most hated task to do…" Zarabelle trailed off.

"I know. But the spaceport manager wants you to do it. There's no more commercial flights coming in today, and only two mining flights from Eryup. You just landed the last scheduled intergalatic flight for the day. There's just not enough work for three air controllers today." Jack tried to reason but he was cringing as he knew there was no way Zarabelle would see eye-to-eye.

Luckily for Jack, he didn't know Zarabelle outside of their job. She wasn't going to speak her mind to Jack. Instead she'd try one last feeble attempt at getting out of a task she didn't want to do.

"Can't I just take the rest of the day off?" Zarabelle suggested before adding one last line of defence "Unpaid, of course."

"Normally I'd say yes. We do need to get the monthly wage budget down. But we really do need to get this lost property sorted for the month so we can start a clean slate for the next period." Jack sadly stated.

Zarabelle only slowly nodded. It was only one afternoon of doing something she didn't want to do. She knew there was no point throwing a tantrum or unleashing negativity towards Jack. The sooner she got to it, the sooner she would be done.

"Okay. Just one last box to sort." Zarabelle smiled to herself as she took a deep breath in.

Sorting through the lost property had taken a lot longer than she anticipated. She was now an hour past her usual finishing time and she had found herself cutting corners, condemning a few things to be thrown out instead of filling out the relevant forms to have items moved on to another department.

However when she opened the box she immediately knew this wouldn't be a thing to throw out.

"The hell is this? A droid?" Zarabelle asked as she carefully picked up the droid out of the box and inspected it carefully.

It was very little which is why it took her a few moments to realise it was actually a droid and not merely a toy or trinket. The droid had a round body with round orange designs and a straight antenna poking out the top of its head.

Zarabelle put the droid onto the table she was working off as she inspected the paper slip in the box.

 _Year found: 23ABY_

 _Item: Brand New BB-8 unit droid_

 _Owner identified: Yes - New Republic_

 _Notes: BB-8 unit was accidentally freighted to Whitefield instead of it's intended destination. Representatives of the New Republic have been contacted to claim missing item. Have been informed the collection of the unit is not urgent and unit is to remain in lost property until a member of the New Republic claims it._

Zarabelle finished reading the lost property form. She went to put the droid back into its box to put it back into storage but the cold metal table was now bare. She blinked in confusion as she began to search the room frantically for the little droid.

She didn't have to search far. After she went down to the floor to crawl on her knees she saw the droid nervously look on from behind the table's legs.

"H-hey there little guy. Or girl. Are you a masculine or a feminine droid?" Zarabelle asked kindly after a brief stutter.

The droid let out a series of beeps in response.

"Guy huh? Okay. Well my name is Zarabelle." Zarabelle responded.

In order to look less threatening to the skittish droid, she swung her legs around to be sitting cross-legged instead. She also undid her bun to let her golden brunette hair cascade down her shoulders in ringlets to look less strict in her work outfit.

The droid let out a curious noise upon her actions.

"Yep, I can understand you. I took Droidspeak as my chosen language in school. I graduated a year early thanks to a lot of the credits earned taking that language." Zarabelle beamed upon the droid.

The little droid cautiously rolled closer to Zarabelle so that he was only an arms length away. Even though he was slightly closer to the girl, the droid remained silent. He expected Zarabelle to keep talking to ease his nerves.

"It seems like they're waiting for a member of the New Republic to come and get ya. Do you have a specific person in the New Republic you're assigned to?" Zarabelle asked the droid.

The droid kept peering on to Zarabelle. He studied her concerned face. The droid determined that Zarabelle meant him no harm and he could let his guard down a little to her.

 _Beep beep beeeeeeeeep bip beep beep_

"Uh huh." Zarabelle responded to show she was listening.

The droid continued on his explanation to Zarabelle. He was telling her that he, alongside a few brand new droids of a few different units, were organised to be sent to the New Republic as tests. They were intended to be samples to entice the New Republic into giving their droid sales contracts to the manufacturer. Therefore the droid had yet to be assigned to somebody at the New Republic.

It also explained how the droid had been left forgotten in the box for over a year. It was a sample and not an order and had probably fallen through the cracks of bureaucracy and lay forgotten in lost property.

"I see. Well, we can't leave you here for yet another year whilst we wait for the New Republic to sort themselves out for collection of you," Zarabelle mused before clicking her fingers "Wait here! I'm going to speak to my manager and see what our options are."

The droid let out a series of beeps in a weak protest, but Zarabelle promised she'd be back shortly as she jumped out quickly and began to race through the hallways of the administration areas of the spaceport.

She skidded to a halt when she saw Jack speaking to a pretty girl outside the employee break room. It made Zarabelle roll her eyes obnoxiously because she knew who the girl was very well. Roxy Lemolia - she was a spaceship attendant for one of the commercial operators that ran operations through Whitefield Spaceport. She was known as the 'hot girl' of the spaceport. All the men went ga ga over her, and most of the girls couldn't stand her.

Zarabelle was a girl who was still friendly towards Roxy. She felt that Roxy shouldn't have ill feelings thrown her way because of how men reacted towards her. But at the same time Zarabelle did notice that Roxy revelled in the attention a little, and sometimes did use it to her advantage to get men to do her bidding. Therefore they were on a friendly basis, but did not ever speak outside work.

"Hey, Jack?" Zarabelle interjected as she waited two minutes to be acknowledged by either party.

"I'll be with you in a moment. Roxy just needed my help with an incident report that happened on a ship that just landed." Jack quickly responded, holding up a finger to indicate 'just a moment'.

Zarabelle sharply inhaled out of annoyance. She was able to read between the lines very easily. The 'help' Roxy needed was that she needed Jack to do the paperwork for her so she wouldn't have to waste time doing it herself. Normally she wouldn't get involved - if Jack was too much of a schmuck to resist the charms of Roxy's pretty smile then Zarabelle felt that was his issue.

But this was now affecting her work. The droid was also the last item she had to deal with today, and the longer she had to wait for Jack and Roxy, the longer she had to remain at work.

"Whilst I can totally understand why Roxy came to you for your expertise, I just need help on one last item and then I'm done. It'll take two minutes, tops." Zarabelle smiled between both Roxy and Jack as she laid on the charm.

Jack began rubbing his face awkwardly but Zarabelle had her attention on Roxy. Roxy was sending Zarabelle a fake smile to hide her less-than-subtle annoyance. It reminded Zarabelle on why none of the girls at work liked Roxy, but she didn't want to start dramas and decided to ignore the faux pleasantries and get her business with Jack completed as quickly as possible.

"I'll be with you in a mo, Roxy." Jack sighed as he took a few steps away. Zarabelle didn't bother watching Roxy's reaction as she was sure it wasn't a positive one.

"What is it?" Jack asked Zarabelle, finding it hard to not show his clear irritation of being interrupted flirting with Roxy.

In any other situation Zarabelle's playful nature would show. At the very least she would make comments to get under Jack's skin, something along the lines of Roxy either not being as attractive as all the men made her out to be, or something a bit more cruel where she would point out that Jack had no chance with her. Or perhaps she would play a prank on Jack, something along the lines of loudly exclaiming something embarrassing.

But she was at work, and Jack was her supervisor. Zarabelle was a professional and felt she had a bright career ahead of her in air traffic control. She needed to hide her true self and put on a different persona at work. Therefore she would say what she needed to say for work purposes and leave it at that.

"There's a droid I found. It was supposed to be sent to the New Republic but it got lost in transit and ended up here well over a year ago." Zarabelle began to explain.

"Ah yes. Well, we're not allowed to interfere with any official New Republic mail. So I would recommend that you leave it in lost property and organise another reminder notice to be sent to the New Republic for collection," Jack advised Zarabelle quickly "Now, can I go back to Roxy?"

"Wait!" Zarabelle said as she grabbed Jack by his weak chest to prevent him from departing "There have already been three reminder notices sent. They haven't made any efforts to collect the droid. Surely there's something else we can do?"

Jack was silent for a few moments deep in thought. Then he responded with his solution.

"After two reminder notices we are allowed to return unclaimed mail back to the sender. You should just re-package the droid and return it to the sender." Jack responded as he quickly dropped Zarabelle's hands from his chest and attempted to move away from her.

"But-" Zarabelle attempted to protest, however she was swiftly cut off by Jack.

"-no buts, Zarabelle. They're the only two options available. It's just a droid, who cares?" Jack sternly stated before turning his back and returning to Roxy to confirm the end of the conversation.

Zarabelle was highly annoyed but saw no value in protesting as she began the trek back to the lost property cupboard. Her mind was racing on what the most appropriate course of action would be from here.

Professionally the right thing to do was to listen to her manager's advice. If she wanted to advance in her career at Whitefield spaceport it would not be wise to go against her manager's wishes.

But the second she returned to the room and saw the hopeful little droid's face, she knew there was only one 'right' thing to do. And that was to do the opposite of what would be professional.

"So, tell me BB-8. Are BB droids known for being good schemers? Because we need to cock up a really good one." Zarabelle grinned wickedly to the small droid.

* * *

"Nearly there. Hope it's not too uncomfortable for you in there." Zarabelle whispered to the large garbage bag she was holding.

Zarabelle had come up with a great plan with the help her new droid friend. The instructions from her shift supervisor were for her to repackage the droid and return it to the sender in its original box.

She had done just that. She had returned the box to the sender complete with a tracking label and signature on delivery instructions. She was able to successfully show this on the paperwork and finish her task of sorting all the lost property. There was one thing she neglected to do, however. She left the droid out of the box and put it into the garbage bag she was now carrying.

It was the perfect disguise to conceal the droid. When she was leaving work it appeared to others she was being helpful by taking out the trash on her way out. She was easily able to sneak BB-8 out of her workplace by hiding him in the bag.

Outside of her work, she looked like a strange girl who carried belongings in a garbage bag. She was currently in the lift of her large residential apartment complex with only one other occupant - a frail looking elderly lady who was shooting Zarabelle both looks of disgust and slight humour. The lady wasn't impressed that the younger girl was talking to a bag of rubbish.

This wasn't lost on Zarabelle who smirked as a plan was formed in her head. She had remained calm, professional and polite throughout her stressful work day. It was now time to let her true, playful self shine through. She would have fun with this judgmental woman.

"I can show you what's in here, if you want. It's fairly gruesome, though." Zarabelle said to the other occupant in the lift, sounding nonchalant as she spoke.

"Oh, no thank you. I don't need to know." The woman responded in an attempt to sound polite, however Zarabelle could see a hint of fear in her body language.

At this moment BB-8 let out a series of curious, happy beeps. His cameras were unable to see past the thick plastic of the bag. Therefore the droid was unaware of the full extent of Zarabelle's prank on the unsuspecting elderly lady.

Zarabelle knew she had to think quick to re-adjust her gameplay. She had to make an excuse to purport that the cute little beeps were not actually cute little beeps. She opened the bag and pretended to peer in, sending the droid a wink before she closed the bag hastily to stop the droid from poking its head out to have a peek.

"I honestly have no idea why it made that noise. Who thought something that is no longer moving could make such an odd noise." Zarabelle said to the elderly woman, feigning a very over the top surprised looking face.

The elderly woman attempted to smile but it only came out as a grimace in her intimidation. Zarabelle watched as the woman quickly hit the button for floor thirty five (conveniently the next floor the lift was due to hit) and scamper out. Considering the woman pressed floor seventy two to begin with, it was clear the poor woman was so frightened of Zarabelle's mystery bag she had departed the lift early.

The stop and start of the lift had piqued BB-8's interest as he forced his head out of the garbage bag to look around.

"Oh I suppose you can come out now, no one from work would see us." Zarabelle stated to the little droid as she put the bag on the floor and the droid whizzed out happily.

Nothing more was said between the two as moments later the lift dinged on floor forty eight - their destination. Zarabelle exited the lift and BB-8 loyally followed behind her.

The apartment complex was like most buildings in Whitefield. It was very neat and tidy, and had been built to tower into the sky. But like the other buildings in the surroundings it lacked any cultural significance or influence. It was a large skyscraper designed to house a large number of people - it looked like all the other plain architecture dotted around Whitefield. It served its purpose to accommodate some of the population, it clearly wasn't there for any decoration.

Zarabelle walked through the hallways until she arrived at her front door. She dug through her pants pocket, sticking her tongue out of her mouth in concentration which made BB-8 beep in happy amusement. After a bit of fishing around the lint and empty gum wrappers in her pocket she managed to locate her keycard and quickly swiped it to allow the door to slide open.

"Welcome to my humble abode, BB-8. I don't ever bring men home, so you should feel privileged." Zarabelle joked loudly as she pressed a button to close the shutter door behind her.

BB-8 beeped a polite 'thank you' as he was taking her statement seriously. She didn't have time to inform the droid she was merely joking as the droid wandered through the apartment curiously.

Like the common areas of the apartment complex, Zarabelle's apartment was kept fairly plain. The carpet was dark which contrasted against the white walls. However the inside of her apartment was the opposite of the immaculate facade outside.

Zarabelle was a normal teenager and thus she kept her room a little messy. The apartment was tiny and contained just one room. A small and cluttered kitchen was next to the front door, with a small shower and sink tucked away through a sliding door. The room contained a bed hard up against the far wall, which had made room for a small tent in front of a modest television. The tent was placed where a couch would normally sit (as Zarabelle always bragged to others 'a tent is much more fun than a couch') and added to the apartment looking a little chaotic amongst the unmade bed and clothes strewn on the floor.

 _Do you live with anyone else?_ BB-8 beeped to Zarabelle.

"Nope. It'd be a bit cramped with someone else living here, aye." Zarabelle responded with an amused smirk.

BB-8 did not respond but kept peering up at the girl, so she decided to elaborate.

"I finished school last year, and moved out of my mum's joint the second I could. I can't stand the woman. Therefore it's quite small as it is all I could afford on my own, but it's fine for just me." Zarabelle explained.

 _Is there enough room for me?_ BB-8 nervously beeped.

Zarabelle smiled wildly at the droid's question. She thought it was utterly adorable coming from such a small, sweet thing. She couldn't help herself as she quickly sat on the floor to come face-to-face with him.

"Of course there is! That's why we schemed for you to escape the spaceport with me, rather than go back to the factory. You can stay here for as long as it takes to find you a worthy new companion from the New Republic." Zarabelle beamed.

The droid began to whizz around excitedly around his new home. He couldn't believe his luck. This morning he had powered up inside a box he had been stuck in for over a year, and tonight he was now inside a warm apartment with a nice girl whom had won over his trust. BB-8 was now excited for what the future would bring him.


End file.
